This time around, Adams hopes to be a boost to Phillies' bullpen

Phillies reliever Mike Adams was limited by injury and eventual surgery last season, but is progressing better than expected in rehab and plans to contribute much more to the bullpen this season. However, he’s not interested in rushing his return to the mound. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr)

PHILADELPHIA — It seemed as if Mike Adams was in a winter rerun when he came to town earlier in the month to chat with reporters.

A year ago, the right-hander had been added to the Philllies’ bullpen to bring a veteran presence to the set-up role, even though he was coming off surgery that required his top rib on the pitching side of his body to be removed in order to ease pressure on a nerve in his arm.

After his 2013 season was derailed by a shoulder issue that required surgery and later a sports hernia, Adams is in Take Two of his Phillies tenure. Frankly, if 2014 doesn’t go better than 2013, there certainly won’t be a Take Three in Philly and it’s tough to imagine there being much out there for a 35-year-old with a long list of injuries.

There was a time in November that Adams wasn’t sure he was going to make it to 2014 as an active player. His shoulder wasn’t responding well and he found out a sports hernia would add to the misery.

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“The first two months of rehab were rough,” Adams said. “That’s when I had my doubts. I was really doubting if it was going to come back. I couldn’t get the pain out of my shoulder. There was just persistent pain doing exercises. Part of it was I was doing too much. I wasn’t giving myself time to recover or rest.

“But the last two months are well beyond what I expected. It’s going so good, it’s almost going too good.”

Last April it seemed the Phillies had gambled and won on Adams after signing him to a two-year, $12 million deal with a vesting option for 2015. Despite a cautious start to spring training, Adams had a dominating Grapefruit League performance and carried that effectiveness into the opening few weeks of the regular season.

In April, both Adams and closer Jonathan Papelbon were solid, if underused thanks to a lack of close games. Two other veterans — right-hander Chad Durbin and southpaw Raul Valdes — were a different story. They combined to allow 20 earned runs in 23 innings in April, and the veteran depth they were supposed to bring after less experienced relievers like Jeremy Horst and Phillippe Aumont failed to show much competence in spring training or the start of the season.

Then the shoulder woes started for Adams, as he did the usual pitcher move of trying to pitch through it and instead hurting the team with rough outings.

It’s tough to say what went wrong with Adams’ shoulder, but there certainly is reason to think that the removal of the rib made him susceptible to injury. Although he took it light in February, Adams felt so strong that he did push his workload ahead of schedule once the exhibition games started.

“I don’t know, maybe,” he said when asked if he thinks that played a role in his shoulder injury. “I was so excited to get back out there, maybe I pushed it too fast. I felt fine at the time, but who knows.”

Adams says he knows he won’t try to press matters this spring, although he thinks even a conservative plan can have him ready for the start of the season.

“We’re trying not to set dates. What we’re trying to do is make sure everything is going smoothly,” he said. “The last thing we want to do is rush it. When everything feels right, the body will tell me.

“I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day. I’m trying not to set Opening Day as my final date. I don’t want to be ready Opening Day, then be on the DL in July or August or even before that. I want to make sure I finish the season, pitch most of the season and into the postseason. If for some reason I’m not ready by Opening Day and it’s April 15 or May 1, so be it. I want to make sure that once I get back on the mound, I don’t have to get back off it.”

It’s difficult to say exactly how costly the bullpen was to the Phillies’ 89-loss season, but it certainly didn’t do Charlie Manuel and Rich Dubee any favors as their tenures as manager and pitching coach reached the edge of the cliff.

While Aumont and Horst disappointed after high expectations, this year the focus is on southpaws Jake Diekman, who finally put out results with his electric arm, and Antonio Bastardo, who has to show his embarrassing, 50-game suspension for involvement in the Biogenesis scandal won’t affect his performance.

Adams believes a healthy and effective bullpen can be the biggest key in a turnaround for the Phils.

“The bullpen is probably the most important part of the ball club,” he said. “If you’re scoring a few runs or scoring a lot of runs, if you don’t hold that lead, you aren’t going to win. I was in San Diego (in 2010) where we were scoring three runs a game, and we led the league in ERA that year and missed the playoffs on the last day of the year.

“I think it will turn around our season. When you look at the teams in the playoffs last year, what was the common thing? Great bullpens.”